RE: Cretaceous taeniodont

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

One thing that seems to be driving this assumption was that mammals were in
competition against dinosaurs BUT nothing else.  This doesn't accurately
reflect the Mesozoic, particularly at the scale of mammals involved.  Other
taxa need to be recognized here: sphenodontians (in the early Mesozoic),
lizards (in the later Mesozoic), and various crocodyliforms throughout.
Many of these may have been direct mammal competitors; others were potential
predators.

Just some (hopefully helpful) thoughts.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796